Temecula Valley Wine Oh!
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August 15, 2026Sunday Dinner
E.A.T. Marketplace, a farm-to-table restaurant in Old Town Temecula, launches a series of special Sunday dinners on Aug. 9.
It’s called Sunday Gravy, and it will be “peasant Sicilian food at its finest,” served family style, according to Leah Delyte Di Bernardo, founder and executive chef. It draws on her New York Italian heritage.
“Marinara is gravy there,” she said.
The menu includes pasta bowls, roasted lemon piccata chicken, a chicken cutlet platter and braised short ribs. Prices per platter are $20-$26. A kids platter is $12, and desserts are available at $6-$10. Beverages include local wines by the glass or bottle.
Everything is “organic, local and rooted in our family’s Sicilian kitchen,” the menu reads.
Di Bernardo has been part of the Temecula dining scene for more than 20 years, starting with a bed and breakfast and catering, which segued into E.A.T. Marketplace.
“We had our kitchen in ‘09. And people would knock on the door, because we catered. So we started opening the door, inviting people in. And in ‘10, we opened officially.”
Hospitality was a career change Di Bernardo made in her mid-30s, she said during an interview in the restaurant’s dining room. She had been an independent producer for MTV in the 1990s, which enabled her to meet second lady Tipper Gore in her Washington, D.C. home to discuss the root causes of depression.
“I linked in food. It was very clear to me that it was food. You didn’t think about that much in the ’90s, organic food and all of that. It made an impression with me because we were working with teenagers.”
Her interest in farm-to-table also stems from her childhood, which was partially spent on a farm in Oregon.
“That is a huge impression. Watching my nonna and my aunts with handmade foods and shopping and then cooking and then eating, that was the ritual.”
E.A.T. Marketplace is normally open for breakfast and lunch six days a week and closed on Tuesday. It includes a coffee bar, marketplace and deli. The kitchen serves such items as pancakes, avocado toast, breakfast burritos, bowls, burgers and sandwiches, roasted chicken, soup and salads.
“We like to say that we’re elevated farm-to-table casual,” said Di Bernardo.
“We like to keep our dollars in our valley, but more importantly, the food you’re eating I like to call good, clean and fair food. It’s good for your body. It’s fair, meaning the farmer is getting a fair wage. My cooks get a fair wage. And clear, there’s no pesticides. So really, can you make that all delicious and not be hippie? I think you can.”
The restaurant follows the tenets of the slow food movement, which advocates high-quality, locally produced foods. Next month, Di Bernardo will represent Southern California at an international slow food festival called Terra Madre Salone Del Gusto in Torino, Italy.
Sunday Gravy will continue throughout August.
It is a test to make dining out more affordable for customers and restaurants, she said. It will be offered 4-7 p.m. on Sunday, outside of the restaurant’s normal hours, and reservations are advised.
E.A.T. Marketplace, a farm-to-table restaurant in Old Town Temecula, launches a series of special Sunday dinners on Aug. 9.
It’s called Sunday Gravy, and it will be “peasant Sicilian food at its finest,” served family style, according to Leah Delyte Di Bernardo, founder and executive chef. It draws on her New York Italian heritage.
